


Tactile Comfort

by thanku4urlove



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Anxiety, Comfort No Hurt, Gen, Insecurity, Late Night Conversations, the & is platonic!!, these boys love each other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-18
Updated: 2020-06-18
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:07:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,238
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24788974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thanku4urlove/pseuds/thanku4urlove
Summary: “It’s okay.” Jeonghan told him, meeting his eyes in the mirror. He wasn’t sure what he was reassuring Mingyu about--that touching his hair was okay, that touching him at all was okay, or that everything in the world was okay--but it seemed to help anyway, Mingyu sitting up a bit straighter, combing Jeonghan’s hair into sections with his fingers.Mingyu asks if he can braid Jeonghan's hair. Jeonghan lets him. They talk.
Relationships: Kim Mingyu & Yoon Jeonghan
Comments: 8
Kudos: 86





	Tactile Comfort

**Author's Note:**

> I've been feeling a lil emotional about Jeonghan since his Hit The Road episode and I officially miss Mingyu a LOT so then this happened at like 2am  
> Yes it's another one of those soft and short pseudo character study things but they're not predebut this time so that must count for something, right?

The best thing--and maybe only redeeming thing--about having long hair was brushing it. It was a calming, repetitive action, Jeonghan liking the comfort of the wooden hairbrush handle in his hand, the gentle scratch of the bristles against his scalp, the smooth way the brush would slide through his hair once all of the tangles had been combed out. It became a bit of a ritual once his hair was dry after a shower to just sit cross-legged in front of the full-length mirror pinned to his bedroom door and brush his hair out, decompressing from the busyness of the day, giving himself a moment to just sit and breathe. 

He was doing it now. It was already extremely late, but Jeonghan knew that letting himself do this, letting himself have this moment, was going to be more beneficial for him than climbing into bed and getting an extra ten minutes of sleep. Having a calm mind would let him sleep better, and he was confident in his ability to find a random place to nap tomorrow. 

Seungcheol was already asleep, passed out on his mattress on the floor, his blankets only half on him and his mouth slightly open. He was dead to the world, despite the lights in the room being on. Jihoon, a migrant, wasn’t in their bedroom tonight; he had fallen asleep on the living room floor, having passed out on one of the futons out there after talking music with Vernon, the two of them having dozed off side by side, still sharing a pair of earbuds. Mingyu was awake too, huddled up in the top of he and Jeonghan’s bunk bed, sitting with his comforter pulled up over his head so that only his face peeked out. He looked so tiny somehow, despite being the tallest of all of them; it struck Jeonghan in moments like this just how young they all were. 

“Hey, hyung?” Jeonghan had half expected Mingyu to talk to him, with the way he’d been staring; Jeonghan could see Mingyu’s eyes on him in the mirror. He glanced up, and Mingyu seemed to take the eye contact as a response, continuing. “Could I braid your hair?” 

Jeonghan hadn’t been expecting that. After a moment, he nodded. 

“Sure.”

Mingyu climbed down, taking the comforter with him, sitting behind Jeonghan on the floor. He seemed hesitant at first, tentative, reaching up to run his fingers incredibly gently through Jeonghan’s hair. 

“It’s okay.” Jeonghan told him, meeting his eyes in the mirror. He wasn’t sure what he was reassuring Mingyu about--that touching his hair was okay, that touching him at all was okay, or that everything in the world was okay--but it seemed to help anyway, Mingyu sitting up a bit straighter, combing Jeonghan’s hair into sections with his fingers. 

“Is something bothering you?” Mingyu asked after a moment, Jeonghan looking at his reflection in surprise. Mingyu met his eyes, and Jeonghan knew that he didn’t have to answer if he didn’t want to. And part of him didn’t want to, painfully aware that Mingyu was his junior, and that Jeonghan was supposed to be the strong one. But this moment felt a bit too intimate to be invaded by those types of societal rules. 

“I don’t know.” Jeonghan finally decided on saying. “I’m just... I’m nervous, I guess?”

Mingyu nodded a bit. “I am too, hyung.” He said, and Jeonghan realized that Mingyu hadn’t really started braiding yet. He was just massaging Jeonghan’s scalp a bit with his fingers, and it felt really, really nice, and something in Jeonghan’s chest seemed to loosen a little. 

“I’ve just never...” They had been debuted for a week and a half. They would be performing on Music Bank tomorrow. They’d been on Music Bank last week, too. “I’ve never been this desperate for people to like me before.” Jeonghan felt a light laugh leave his lips. “It’s so scary. Part of me hates it.”

Mingyu was quiet for a long moment, his arms working as he actually began to braid Jeonghan’s hair, pulling it away from Jeonghan’s face. Mingyu added pieces to the braid as he went, pulling all of it back and away. The feel of it was soothing, but the action was exposing, Jeonghan left staring at his own face in the mirror. 

“If it’s any consolation, I like you a lot, hyung.” Mingyu said, and Jeonghan couldn’t help it, laughing a little. He wanted... He wanted to be held, truth be told, and he thought Mingyu would hold him if he asked, but Mingyu’s hands were busy in his hair. 

“I didn’t know you could braid.” He said instead, and Mingyu shrugged a bit. 

“I have a little sister.” He said, like that was explanation enough, but Jeonghan had a little sister too, and he hadn’t even learned how to put his hair up in a ponytail until the company had told him to learn. “It’s good, though. I like doing it. I like doing things with my hands. It’s like... Calming, I think.”

Jeonghan wanted to nod, but Mingyu’s hands were keeping his head still. He knew what Mingyu meant; he still had the handle of the hairbrush in his hand, occasionally sliding his thumb across the wood. 

“I’ve always been like that, though.” Mingyu continued. He was focused now, his wrists twisting as his fingers moved. “Chopping vegetables, and folding clothes... Stuff like that. I was in a cross-stitching club in school for a while.”

That made Jeonghan laugh a bit. 

“Cooking, cleaning, and sewing.” He said. “Someone is going to be really lucky to have you one day, Mingyu.” 

He expected the words to make Mingyu smile, but Mingyu didn’t, his eyes still on Jeonghan’s hair, his lips slightly bunched up. 

“I think...” Mingyu was finished with the braid, holding the end with his fingers, and Jeonghan took a hair tie from his wrist, handing it over. “I think I’ve already found the people that I want to ‘have’ me though, hyung.” 

Jeonghan met Mingyu’s eyes again in the mirror. He looked tired, but he’d stayed up late to watch Jeonghan, to run his fingers through Jeonghan’s hair, to ask him if he was okay. Jeonghan turned around, pulling Mingyu’s comforter back up around his shoulders. 

“Then we’re lucky to have you, Mingyu.” He said, and then Mingyu smiled. He looked calmer now, a tension in his shoulders having vanished; Jeonghan hadn’t even noticed it until after it had disappeared. It was time, now, to be the older one. “Come on; it's late. Let’s go to bed.” 

It wasn’t until Mingyu had climbed back up into the top bunk and Jeonghan had clicked the light off that Mingyu spoke again. 

“You’re not going to brush the braid out?”

“It’s pretty.” Jeonghan said, running his fingers down the twist of hair, a straight line down his back. “I like it. Next time we have practice, could you braid my hair like this again?”

“Oh.” Mingyu was quiet for a moment. “Yeah, sure.”

“Okay.” Jeonghan curled himself up in bed, running his finger along the smooth metal of the Seventeen ring on his finger. “Thanks, Mingyu.”

He wasn’t sure what he was thanking Mingyu for--for braiding his hair, or for agreeing to braid his hair again, or for existing in the world--but Mingyu responded anyway. 

“Of course, hyung. Sleep well, okay?”

Jeonghan did.


End file.
